The second set of games of the Round of 16 in UEFA Champions League began on Thursday, when Real Madrid visited Schalke 04 and Swiss side FC Basel played hosts to FC Porto. Real had major problems ahead of this fixture after a couple of unconvincing performances and were in desperate need of a favorable result. FC Basel had scraped into the pre-quarterfinals after beating 5-times Champions Liverpool to second-spot.
Real Madrid began the match on the front-foot but were unable to penetrate through the hosts’ deep defending. Debut goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther produced a fine save of a dipping free-kick by Ronaldo but was beaten when the Ballon d’Or winner headed home after Daniel Carvajal’s left footed cross. Shortly after the goal, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar pulled a hamstring and had to be subbed off. Schalke’s 5-man defence managed to thwart Real Madrid till half-time but with Real Madrid in clear control of this game, it always was going to herculean task to beat the reigning champions.
Till the hour mark, there were no clear-cut chances for either side, with defenders making crucial tackles and crucial times. Schalke manager Roberto Di Matteo attempted to bolster his offensive strategies by sending Jan Kirchhoff on, but to ill effect. In the 74th minute, Schalke missed a glorious chance to equalize, when Ronaldo’s poor free-kick resulted in a swift counter-attack but substitute Felix Platte only struck the crossbar. Marcelo made the German-side pay for this miss, when he smashed the ball into the back of the net into the top right-hand corner with his weaker foot. 2-0 Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti will be a very happy man when he leaves Germany. Di Matteo’s strategies managed to subdue Real Madrid from gaining any more precious away goals but they were unable to register any goal of their own to lower the deficit. Lucas Silva enjoyed his full debut for Los Blancos and Cristiano Ronaldo repaid his manager’s faith in him with a reasonably good performance. March 10, is when the two sides meet again, this time in Madrid and considering that the same tie last year, ended 9-2 on aggregate, Schalke will have to produce something special if they want to progress to the next round.
Mark Clattenburg had to produce 9 yellow cards in a heated affair at St Jakob Park, when Porto arrived in Switzerland. Derlis Gonzalez gave Basel an early lead but had to subbed off soon after, as he was in serious discomfort after his goal. Casemiro was denied an equalizer when referee Clattenburg blew the whistle for a foul on Basel ‘keeper Tomas Vaclik. Porto looked in control of the game despite the fact that they were a goal down.
Basel marked well throughout the game but there hardwork was undone when Casemiro nudged it home after a scrappy corner. Maicon had his initial header saved but Zuffi made a mess of his clearance and the ball fell right into the path of Casemiro, who kindly tucked it home. After the celebration and the game ready to presume, Clatternburg took the ball back the goalkeeper after a lengthy conversation with the linesman, concluding the goal had been disallowed for obstruction of the goalkeeper’s ability to play. The Porto players were furious but from a neutral’s point of view, this was the correct decision by the English referee. Jackson Martinez was subdued throughout the game and he was unable to make any impact at all, but opposite number; the veteran Basel striker Marco Streller managed to create a few problems for the Portuguese side. Substitute Ricardo Quaresma created problems ever since his inclusion into the game and when he played the ball to Danilo on the right, the latter’s cross struck the arm of Walter Samuel, unintentionally of course. The Argentine made no complaints and Danilo scored of the subsequent penalty. After the scores were level, the pace of the game slowed down, with both sides somewhat content with the result. Porto will be favorites to progress into the next round with an important away goal but you simple cannot rule out Basel.
Tags: FC Basel FC Porto Real Madrid Schalke UEFA UEFA 2015 UEFA Champions League
